Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine revealed two important decisions earlier this week. The most obvious was his choice of Director of the Ohio Department of Public Safety Andy Wilson to replace outgoing state Attorney General Dave Yost.

But the other was his determination to avoid dismissing the will of Ohio voters — and altering the nature of several state-level elections in November — by appointing Keith Faber to fill the post instead.

Faber is state auditor, and is the Republican nominee for the state attorney general seat.

Had DeWine appointed Faber, it would have created a vacancy for state auditor. Secretary of State Frank LaRose is the Republican nominee for auditor on the Nov. 3 ballot. If DeWine had appointed LaRose, Ohio Treasurer Robert Sprague, the Republican nominee for secretary of state, would have been appointed to succeed him. That would have opened the treasurer seat, and DeWine could have named former state Rep. Jay Edwards, who won Tuesday’s GOP primary for that position.

In other words, four Republican nominees could have become incumbents during the Nov. 3 general election.

Other executives might not have thought twice about creating such an advantage. To his great credit, DeWine did.

“The idea of appointing one or maybe all of the statewide officeholders, which was certainly a distinct possibility and certainly was an option, just didn’t seem right to me,” DeWine said. “We have an election coming. We’re only six months away from the election. For me to step in as governor and literally appoint every single statewide officeholder, it just didn’t look right to me. It didn’t seem right to me, didn’t seem like something that I should do.”

Knowing what he might be able to set in motion once Yost announced he plans to step down June 7, DeWine was correct to avoid becoming the only statewide executive branch official that had been elected to his seat by voters in 2022.

That kind of political honesty and understanding that elected officials are meant to serve the rest of us, rather than their own agendas, is getting rarer, it seems. As we wish Wilson luck in fulfilling his responsibilities in the coming months, we also commend DeWine for making his choice the way he did.